THRAKATTAK

Being a follower of King Crimson over the years but not an obsessive fan of the group, has made KC a hit or miss band in my CD collection. I loved the first 2 doom and gloom albums, and I still can remember being floored by Epitaph and In the Court from their maiden release. Another standout for me was Red but some of the other KC releases were hit and miss for me.

Not a fan of the trio of releases from the reformed KC in the 1980's, I picked up Thrak with no real expectations but intrigued by the double trio format of the band. Wow, a major surprise as this disk delivered in spades.

I looked to the live THRaKaTTaK with great anticipation. Probably the most disappointed I have ever been ( OK bottom 3). Waves upon waves of dissonant noise at crushing volumes is probably the best way to describe it. Improvisation at it worst as it sounds like a work in progress before the bad ideas got removed and the good ideas got worked on.

1 star

This album was the last I heard from King Crimson as I was done. Move forward 19 years and after the revelation that is 'Radical Action' , I decided to return to the Crimson King and see what if anything I was missing or needed another listen. I started with the one I liked the least, 'THRaKaTTak'. Right off the bat the spelling and capitalization is annoying. But that is not an issue. What is, is that this album is completely improvisational. Yes, they did put a warning label on the CD so the listener had an idea of what lies ahead. But the label didn't go far enough. Some of this works for me now while others still do not. Remember that this a 'glued together' album where an original concert may have one or 2 improvs in it. Taking in these small doses, some of the tracks do work. But for an album to only have these tracks does not. All salad and no steak does not make a good meal and that's what this album feels like. My impression almost 2 decades out is better but not by much.

2 stars